Gain chip design, power scaling and intra-cavity frequency doubling with LBO of optically pumped red-emitting AlGaInP-VECSELs

Abstract

The wide range of applications in biophotonics, television or projectors, spectroscopy and lithography made the optically-pumped semiconductor (OPS) vertical external cavity surface-emitting lasers (VECSELs) an important category of power scalable lasers. The possibility of bandgap engineering, inserting frequency selective and converting elements into the open laser cavity and laser emission in the fundamental Gaussian mode leads to ongoing growth of the area of applications for tuneable laser sources. We present an AlGaInP-VECSEL system with a multi quantum well structure consisting of compressively strained GaInP quantum wells in an AlxGa1-xInP separate confinement heterostructure with an emission wavelength around 665 nm. The VECSEL chip with its n-λ cavity is pumped by a 532nm Nd:YAG laser under an angle to the normal incidence of 50°. In comparison, a gain chip design for high absorption values at pump wavelengths around 640nm with the use of quantum dot layers as active material is also presented. Frequency doubling is now realized with an antireflection coated lithium borate crystal, while a birefringent filter, placed inside the laser cavity under Brewster's angle, is used for frequency tuning. Further, power-scaling methods like in-well pumping as well as embedding the active region of a VECSEL between two transparent ic heaspreaders are under investigation.